SANAA, 22 March 2004 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday slammed Washington’s calls for reform in the Middle East and said Arab countries could tackle their problems by themselves.
The US proposals “include clear accusations against the Arab people and their governments that they are ignorant of their own affairs,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Faisal as saying in the Yemeni capital.
“Those behind these plans ignore the fact that our Arab people have cultures rooted deep in history and that we are able to handle our own affairs,” the Saudi chief diplomat said.
Prince Saud said calls for Arabs to join the modern world were being made “as if for all these years we had not been doing anything and had just been waiting for direction from outside”.
He said any foreign help should be concentrated on settling the Palestinian-Israel conflict and forming a “genuine economic partnership” with the Arab world.
Prince Saud’s statement comes two days after his talks in Riyadh with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Prince Saud earlier held talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and senior government officials. The talks focused on the Arab summit agenda and US plans.
The prince handed a message from Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, to the Yemeni president.
During a meeting, Prince Saud and his Yemeni counterpart Abubakar Al-Kurbi underlined the need for inter-Arab reforms that harmonize with the resolve of the region’s peoples and are not imposed by foreign parties.
Al-Kurbi said that his country was not against the US initiative.
“We do not see negatively any views about reform in the Arab world. We welcome them and believe that the final word on them are at the hands of the Arab peoples and governments,” he said.
Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul Qader Bajammal also emphasized the need for reforms.
“There are changes in the world and we must live in tune with these changes,” but he stressed that any reforms must meet the people’s expectations. Bajammal said his meeting with Prince Saud covered “security cooperation and the struggle against terrorism.”
Arab leaders will meet in Tunis later this month seeking a common response to the US plans, dubbed the “Greater Middle East Initiative”. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria have rejected any “outside — imposed” reforms.
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will head his country’s delegation to the Arab heads of state summit in Tunis later this month, the official KUNA news agency said.
Sheikh Sabah will lead a high-level delegation that includes ministers of foreign affairs, energy, commerce, finance and information.
In another development, the Kingdom’s Interior Ministry handed over eight Yemenis to Sanaa in return for five Saudis. “Five Saudis were handed over to us by Sanaa,” the Saudi Press Agency said quoting a ministry official.
